U.N. to Investigate U.S. Voter I.D. Laws

The United Nations Human Rights Council is investigating the issue of American election laws at its gathering on minority rights in Geneva, Switzerland. This, despite the fact that some members of the council have only in the past several years allowed women to vote, and one member, Saudi Arabia, still bars women from the voting booth completely.

Officials from the NAACP are presenting their case against U.S. voter ID laws, arguing to the international diplomats that the requirements disenfranchise voters and suppress the minority vote.

That isn’t treason, but it is disloyal; disgracefully so.

The NAACP had scheduled two American citizens to present their claims at the U.N. panel who, the group says, worry they will be disenfranchised by the requirement to present a photo ID to vote.

This is hilarious, in a black comedy sort of way:

The civil rights group says one, Kemba Smith Pradia, was convicted of a drug-related offense and is concerned that if she moves back to Virginia from the Midwest, state law will block her voting because of her record, even though she was granted clemency by President Bill Clinton.

So this is the best the NAACP can do: Kemba Smith Pradia lives in the Midwest and has a criminal conviction on her record. Can she vote? Yes, because the state where she lives either doesn’t bar felons from voting, or doesn’t have a voter ID law, so she can vote fraudulently. But she worries that if she should move to Virginia, she will have to present identification. In that event, if Virginia law doesn’t allow felons to vote, she won’t be able to get away with breaking the law! Is that a human rights violation, or what?

This, by the way, is Ms. Smith Pradia, as featured on the NAACP web site:

The NAACP provides this “book synopsis:”

In this long-awaited memoir, Kemba Smith shares her dramatic story, as it has never been told. Poster Child: The Kemba Smith Story chronicles how she went from college student to drug dealer’s girlfriend to domestic violence victim to federal prisoner. Kemba shares her story of how making poor choices blinded by love and devotion can have long-term consequences. Kemba’s case drew support from across the nation and the world. Often being labeled the “posterchild” for reversing a disturbing trend in the rise of lengthy sentences for first-time, non-violent drug offenders, Kemba’s story has been featured on CNN, Nightline, “Judge Hatchett,” Court TV, “The Early Morning Show,” and a host of other television programs. In addition, Kemba’s story has been featured in several publications such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, Emerge, JET, Essence, Glamour, and People magazines.

I am sure she will be a popular witness at the U.N. The Human Rights Council delegates from China and Cuba will be especially sympathetic to the oppression she has suffered here in the United States.

Michael Ramirez, meanwhile, itemizes some of the things you do and do not need identification to do: